Flight of the Magnus

by L S Roebuck

  “Hello Midas; hello Eli,” Amberly said, as she opened the food storage bin and found an orange-colored carb sphere. She unwrapped the artificial foodstuff, held the orb up to her mouth and took too a large bite.

  Wong grunted at Amberly in acknowledgment, but most of his focus was on the chess board. He moved a knight to capture one of Midas’ bishops.

  “A fair move,” Midas said. Midas moved his queen diagonally across the board to put the knight in jeopardy. The queen also had a diagonal shot at Wong’s remaining rook.

  “Well, that smarts,” Wong said. “Which one should I save?”

  “Now that’s a good question. I’ll let you figure it out,” Midas chuckled and turned to Amberly. “What has you up at this un-godly hour, sweetheart?”

  “How am I going to face him when he gets here tomorrow?” Amberly said.

  “Dek?” Midas asked. “Well, I don’t see how you could tell him anything but the truth.”

  Wong looked up from the game.

  “Amberly,” Wong looked sternly at his redheaded commander. “I’m your chief of security. And even though I didn’t agree with how you got off the hook at the Battle of Magellan, I’ve followed my orders, because I am loyal to my command and loyal to Earth. There is only one thing to do when American Spirit gets here.”

  “We’ve been over this too many times, Wong. No.”

  “He should have been shown out an airlock back on Magellan,” Wong said. “All of them should have been. The fact that the damaged American Spirit is returning to us is proof enough of that. The exile plan was always going to end bad.”

  “Eli,” Midas said with a little bit of threat in his voice, “Let’s not be talking of airlocks. We’ve spilled enough blood in this stupid war.”

  “At the very least, you must not let him remain in command of the American Spirit,” Wong pressed. “You have the authority to relieve him of his command. Maybe put Skylar in command.”

  “Yeah, the optics on that would look great,” Amberly with sarcasm steaming off her head.

  “Whatever you do, you have to be really careful,” Midas advised. “The people on that ship, they may technically be under your authority when they get to our humble little outpost, but the people may be loyal to Dek. He has led them through quite an ordeal. Even if your brother-in-law and sister and the rest of the Elcano flotilla are with you, there are what, ten times as many people on the American Spirit. I’m not saying they’d all be with Dek, but—”

  “Midas, that’s not what I am worried about,” Amberly replied, “Dek thinks that I love him. I told him that to ease the pain of his exile—”

  “Well that was a stupid idea if you were trying to get rid of him,” Midas said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  “But I thought I’d never see him again. For crying out loud, he was going seven light years away!” Amberly justified herself. “And maybe I don’t love him, but it’s not like I don’t have any feelings for him.”

  “Pardon my saying so, but that is sort of dangerous for a woman who is getting married to another man,” Midas was firm, but gentle in his admonition. “You need to straighten out your feelings, and soon.”

  “Amberly’s feelings are irrelevant. Her duty is to Earth, Magellan and this mission,” Wong said. “Dek is an exile. Sentenced in a legal tribunal. The one right thing to do is to incarcerate him until another ship is heading to Earth.”

  “That could be a long time,” Amberly protested, “or never.”

  “Then toss him out an airlock,” Wong said, his anger rising. “Don’t forget who those bastards killed. Anderson. Jindel. Synder. Twig. Dek was part of that. He was as responsible, if not more so, than dozens of others we executed after the Battle of Magellan. He personally attempted to murder North. You remember our friend, North? Do the right thing. Don’t make me regret believing you are truly loyal to Magellan and Earth. Because of you, North almost died—”

  Midas grunted his objection to Wong’s escalation.

  “I saved North,” Amberly shouted while she stood up, dropping her half-eaten carb sphere to the floor. She began tearing up with anger and guilt. “If it wasn’t for me, he would be dead. Dek would have killed him. I saved him! And Dek helped save us all.”

  “If it wasn’t for you, Dek would have never had the opportunity to knife North,” Wong shouted back, anger rising in his voice. “You almost killed North! And now he’s gone,”

  Midas stood over Wong and calmly put his huge hands on the Marine’s shoulders. He spoke softly, “No Eli, in the end Amberly saved us all. She shot her own mother to save us. I was there. Now you’ve said your piece, and let that be all. Let’s stay focused on the task at hand – making Magellan strong so we can fight back against Chasm if we must. That’s all that matters now.”

  Wong looked to the floor and exhaled slowly. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  Skylar rushed into the mess, wearing pink and white striped nightclothes, his yellow curls wildly messy. “What’s going on here? I heard shouting.”

  “Everything is fine, XO,” Midas said reassuringly to the Fuentes Station second-in-command. “Amberly and Wong were just having a spirited discussion.”

  Skylar looked at Wong and then over at Amberly and frowned. He knew what they were arguing about without anyone saying a word.

  “Maybe all of you should get some sleep,” Skylar scolded. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Amberly and I have to make sure we are not going to get fried by uncharted stellar radiation bursts – and we have to get done before the American Spirit arrives. I don’t have tell you that integrating the American Spirit and the flotilla into our mission isn’t going to easy, and we don’t need anyone on a short fuse because they aren’t getting the rack time they need.”

  Amberly walked over to Skylar and planted a short but sweet kiss on his lips. “Thank you, dear,” she said sincerely. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to clean up here then I’ll go back to my quarters and get some sleep.”

  Skylar stared hard and Wong, who was still in his chair looking down, then turned to give an evil eye to Midas. Midas just shrugged his shoulders and gave an innocent who me? look. Skylar looked back over at Amberly and offered a forced smile, and turned and exited the room.

  “Skylar’s in a snit,” Midas chuckled. Amberly started picking up her dropped foodstuffs.

  Midas sat down, and waved his hand palm up toward the chess board. “Well, what’s it going to be? The rook or the knight. You can only save one.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Wong said as he stood up, knocking over a few pieces. “I am done playing this game. I’m going to bed.”

  “Goodnight, Eli,” Midas said, as his eyes followed the Marine out the door. He looked over at Amberly. “I’ll clean up here. It’s my job. You brought me here as a janitor, you know.”

  “Yeah, but I prefer you as a counselor. Or maybe a stand-in grandfather,” Amberly sat down and smiled at the old man. “Midas, what am I going to do about Dek?”

  “Double jeopardy,” Midas said. “Just like Wong’s rook and knight. You can’t have them both, Dek and Skylar. You can’t make both of them happy. And you can’t run away from your Dek problem anymore. Figure out what you want, and then commit.”

  “I’m engaged to Skylar,” Amberly said, but with no confidence. “I’ve obviously figured out what I want.”

  “Uh huh,” Midas said. “You’ve figured out how to hide. Maybe Skylar is what you want. Good for him.”

  “Of course, he is,” Amberly said softly.

  “Sure, sure,” Midas reassured Amberly with just a hint of patronization. “And then there is the other guy.”

  “What other guy?”

  “You know. Goodnight, my dear Amberly,” Midas said kindly, and then he opened up his heart. “Whatever you chose, whatever you do, know that I will have your back.”

  She believed him.

  “North! Stop!” Amberly’s voice was sharp and clear. “North, you’re killing him! Stop! Please.”
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  North looked at his hard hands encircling Dek’s neck. A whitish-blue ring started to form where blood was being cut off.

  “Please, North, please. This isn’t you.”

  North breathed heavily and fought back tears as he released his grip from Dek’s marred throat, shoving the transient back into the hard Magellan corridor wall. Dek gasped as air filled his lungs.

  Dek took a long breath and then unexpectedly pummeled North with his free arm, landing a kidney punch that caused North to double and completely release Dek for just an instant. Dek had enough space to draw his short blade from its hidden sheath.

  “Dek, no!” Amberly shouted.

  North was already recovering when Dek, with all the strength he could muster, drove his knife into the center of the existing wound on North’s arm. Dek pulled the blade out and stabbed North’s torso beneath the left rib cage, and in a flash pulled it out again only to stab North’s injured arm again, leaving the blade piercing the wound.

  The large man cried out in excruciating pain and stumbled back into Kora, his arm immediately bleeding profusely. The blade remained lodged in North’s muscle and bone as he collapsed to the floor.

  “North!” Amberly shouted. She and Kora both moved to him as he clutched his arm.

  “Lord, no,” Kora said, “I think he hit an artery.”

  With the attention on North, Dek slowly reached over and picked up the assault rifle and aimed it squarely at North.

  “Amberly, Kora,” Dek said with a quivering voice, “Please, step away from North now.”

  “No!” Kora said, with tears running down her face. “He needs my help! Please.”

  “I don’t want to, but I will kill you if you make me,” Dek said, looking hard into Kora’s eyes. “North will never surrender or stand down — he has to die. We’ve come too far, so close to perfecting humanity, to let this Marine get in the way. Death comes for us all; for North it comes today.”

  “Go to hell,” Kora growled.

  Dek lightly pulled the trigger and a single bullet rang out, a warning shot aimed purposefully well above North’s head. Amberly yelped in surprise at the sound of the gunshot, but she stayed by North’s side.

  “You don’t scare me,” Kora said, turning her back to Dek and preparing to pull the knife from North’s wound. “Shoot me. I know where I’m going when I die. Do you?”

  “Apparently to hell,” Dek mocked Kora.

  “Save yourselves,” North gasped. His breaths were rapid, but shallow. Both the Macready sisters knew North would soon die from blood loss. “Maybe Dek’s right. Maybe it is my time. No reason for you to die, too. Save yourself. Be happy. Kora, you’re a dish. I’ll always love you, Red.”

  “North,” Amberly said, tears running down her face. North shook his head at her in surrender.

  Dek looked at his beloved. “Amberly, please step away from North,” Dek begged.

  North slowly forced himself to stand, blood trickling from his wounds onto the cold steel floor. He gently pushed Amberly and Kora out of the way and stood vulnerably in sights of his own assault rifle, which Dek had trained on North’s torso.

  North looked at Dek hard. “Kill me if you must, but promise me you’ll take care of Amberly. Promise me you’ll die for her.” Then North closed his eyes and fell to his knees. He was bleeding out, shot up, stabbed, stunned, broken and worn out. He leaned against the wall, and slid down into a seating position, leaving a crimson streak on the wall. Dek’s blade still protruded from his arm.

  North smiled and closed his eyes.

  “Don’t you see, Amberly,” Dek explained, “This is the only way for our true love to live forever. You do believe in our love, don’t you Amberly?”

  “Yes, Dek,” Amberly watched herself tell the rogue, as she walked next to him and put her arms around his waist.

  “North, I promise, I will take care of Amberly,” Dek pledged. “I promise I will die for her. I really love her.” Dek pulled the trigger gently, releasing one bullet into the center of North’s forehead.

  “Wait! That’s not how this happened,” Amberly saw herself scream. “I saved North! I saved North! I love North!”

  A mysterious door opened and Private Wong walked out. He was quietly chanting, “Amberly Macready murdered Lt. Commander North.”

  A hatch on the ceiling of the hall opened, and a scantily dressed Sparks fell through, and landed in a crouch. “You don’t love North, you killed him, my dear sister,” Sparks whispered as she leaned over and kissed the dead body. “Still warm. But not for long.”

  “I didn’t kill him!” Amberly saw herself shout again. “I saved him. I intervened.”

  Something was tapping on the back of her leg. She looked over and saw her toddler nephew, Alroy, speaking in her late father’s voice, “I never got to meet uncle North. He was dead when I was born.”

  “He’s not dead. I didn’t kill him. I saved him!”

  Amberly saw the people gathering around her start to chant, “Like mother, like daughter. Out the airlock. Like mother, like daughter. Out the airlock.”

  She looked to Dek. “Sorry honey, but you never loved me anyway. Have fun floating around the universe with your dead mother!”

  Out of nowhere, an airlock door appeared. She recognized Joti, the chasm conspirator, inside the airlock. “Come on in,” he said. “The air is fresher in here.”

  “No! I didn’t kill North. I saved him.”

  Suddenly, Amberly was inside the airlock, although she didn’t remember going through the interior door.

  She heard Verne’s familiar voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll delete myself when I am gone. Or maybe I’ll transfer to her.”

  Amberly looked out the window and saw her teenage rival, Flora Dillinger. “Open the airlock, Verne,” Flora said with a dismissive chuckle.

  Joti smirked at Amberly. “Now you know how I feel.”

  “No! Wait. I saved Magellan! This isn’t how it happened. Wait–”

  Amberly woke from the dream. Her heart was pounding, and her gown was damp with sweat.

  “What time is it?” She asked aloud.

  “Oh-five-hundred hours,” Verne replied. “Why are you awake so early? Your alarm isn’t set to go off for another hour.”

  “I guess I just couldn’t sleep,” Amberly told her VI. “Please start my morning java.”

  Amberly didn’t regularly drink the caffeinated substance that approximated coffee produced by the food synthesizers on Fuentes station. The synthesizers on the station were nearly 100 years older than the ones on Magellan, and as such, the food produced tasted much worse. Amberly had hoped the garden project would have gone better, but they had no good botanists on her initial team. There were several, however, on American Spirit, and Amberly was looking forward to the fruits of a well-run greenhouse if she could conscript the botanists.

  Ha! Getting farmers from American Spirit is the least of my worries, Amberly thought.

  Amberly quickly showered and donned her old Science Corps dress uniform. Professional and feminine, the familiar white pantsuit with green trim made Amberly feel comfortable and relaxed. She liked how she looked in the getup, as she examined herself if the small vanity above her sink. Of course, the Science Corps uniform reminded Amberly most of her mother, and right now Amberly chose to remember Kimberly Macready as the caring, nurturing role model Amberly knew her to be during the first 13 years of her life. She did not want to think of her as Raven One, traitor to her family and humanity, and architect of unspeakable evil.

  “You look very sharp,” Verne said. “Like your mother.”

  Amberly smiled at the VI’s comment. It always said that when Amberly wore her dress uniform. Then Verne added something it hadn’t said before, “Happy Ship Day, Red.”

  For waypoint residents whose reason for existing was to support inter-planetary ships passing from Earth to Arara and back, the arrival of a deep space ship was a day of celebration. “Happy Ship Day” was a common greeting on the somewhat r
are occasions when ships visited the waypoints. Red was North’s pet name for Amberly, but she wasn’t sure when Verne picked up the vernacular.

  And she could almost hear North saying those same words the last fateful Ship Day, when the American Spirit arrived at Magellan, two years ago. Amberly left her somewhat spacious quarters and headed for the research lab to find Skylar. Today, they would celebrate the return of the American Spirit.

  Compared to Magellan’s diameter of five kilometers, Fuentes station was tiny. But when combined with the various flotilla ships temporarily converted into housing, the permanent base on Sonnet offered more than 10,000 square meters of room space for the Amberly’s team-members to spread out — likely the least densely populated structure in space. While nearly half that area was currently dedicated to farming, being a loner and hiding from others was easy. That would change when American Spirit and the Elcano flotilla arrived today, adding nearly 1,000 souls to the operation.

  The door to the multi-purpose science lab slid open, and Amberly saw the senior scientist, Li, a tan 60-year-old with long salt-and-pepper hair, deep in conversation with Skylar.

  “Amberly,” Skylar smiled. “I wasn’t sleeping well so I woke up early and began downloading the new stellar radiation data from the Magellan tight beam. I’m glad I started early. It took two hours because asteroids kept breaking the beam.”

  Li looked up from her magnetic resonance screen. “Don’t worry, Amberly. You run along. I’ve almost charted all the anomalies for the next month. Nothing headed our way. Looks like no temporary evacuations in the next 30 days.”

  “Did you get the batch communications from Magellan, too, or just the stellar data?” Amberly asked. “I haven’t heard from Moreno for a while now. I wonder how long she’ll want us to keep the American Spirit hiding here in the Spencer Belt?”

  “What kind of low rent communication tech do you think I am?” Skylar joked. “I mean, I’m no Skip, but I get by. Of course, I got the mail.”

  “Any word from Magnus? They must be near Marquette now.”